


The Destruction of Pennywise

by Lunaandtwilight07



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King, Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Creepy Pennywise (IT), Eventual Happy Ending, F/M, Fluff, Haunting, Killer Clown, Scary, Scary Clowns, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:49:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23719252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunaandtwilight07/pseuds/Lunaandtwilight07
Summary: They thought it was dead 27 years ago, but after a series of suspicious deaths and children beginning to go missing, the blood oath they made as children comes into play. A surprising phone call brings Regina Mills and the rest of the Losers Club back together to defeat a resurfaced demon. Pennywise will not be destroyed so easily, not without a little torment first.
Relationships: Evil Queen | Regina Mills/Robin Hood
Comments: 3
Kudos: 10





	The Destruction of Pennywise

**I hope this doesn't scare you too much. This is inspired by both the book and movie, though I definitely added my own touches. Enjoy!**

****

* * *

It had been there when they had been kids, a group of them trapped in a small town. The Losers Club. Robin Locksley, Regina Mills, August Booth, Jefferson Hatter, John Little, Will Scarlett and Killian Jones. The seven of them outcasts, people who shouldn't fit together but did.

They'd killed It then, found a way to destroy the monster down in the storm drain. Robin's younger brother had been taken by the Clown, snatched in the rain whilst wearing his little yellow coat. He'd been chasing a paper boat made by his big brother and never returned, vanished. Taken. Taken by the Clown. Murdered.

So, they went after it, tracked it down and rid the world of its evil. The monster changed them, sucked out any scene of innocence they might have had before, drained their life forces and bonded them all in a way that almost seemed impossible. They vowed should it ever return somehow, re-manifest, that they would come back and end it for good, protecting the innocent children of Storybrooke.

After the Clown, they left, one by one all of them left, all but one. John Little, or Little John as they had liked to call him, had stayed behind, he vowed to remain and watch over the town, just to make sure. The rest, they moved on, tried to put it behind them and bit by bit, over time, the memories of the monster in the sewers of their childhood town vanished from their minds, trickling away and dissipating, leaving behind a wall of darkness within their past, erasing itself completely.

They progressed like any other adults might, forming their own lives and just living. Though the darkness imprinted on them by the Clown stayed, they might not remember the events themselves, but the feelings and dark thoughts that came along with it were still there. Robin had ventured to California and was a published author, writing thrillers, scary stories created to frighten readers. All the while he was oblivious to his own horror story, the one that had happened during a monumental summer.

Regina hadn't journeyed as far, remaining on the east coast, but moving to New York. There she had met her husband Daniel and although it had been a wonderful relationship at first, he'd turned violent, just as her mother had been when she was a child. She was a journalist, writing for the New York Times, always attracted to the drama and never without the need for a good story.

Regina wasn't a stupid woman, she knew that she had to get out of the relationship and she was planning it, it was coming soon, she knew she just needed to be patient, bide her time and eventually she would get out of there, hopefully with her sanity and health still intact. She was working on a way to out her husband's wrongdoings, hopefully, cleaning out his bank account while she was at it.

The other four that left Storybrooke were scattered around the country doing their own things, but none of them had been in contact, not since they left. They had gone from being best friends to no longer talking, not even bothering to stay in touch. Until now.

It had been 27 years, an age since they were last there, but the call came. All six of them receiving the same phone call from the one person who had remained. Calling them back.

John knew the monster had risen again, woken from his slumber and children were starting to go missing once again. Regina being the inquisitive journalist she was leapt at the chance to explore the story, though she was extremely reluctant to go back. She couldn't remember what they were going back for exactly, it was all hazy, had been blocked to the far corners of her mind, but it was something. She'd packed her bag and written a note telling Daniel that she was working on a project, not that she cared if he thought she left him, that was her long-term plan anyhow.

They all ventured back to the town they grew up in and met at the diner they used to go to all the time when they were younger. Seemingly Regina was the last to arrive, her travel bag slung over her shoulder as she opened the door, the bell ringing at her appearance. The place hadn't changed much with the same decor and colour scheme.

She scanned the room for a moment her eyes falling upon the people she was looking for. "Losers," she chuckled, a small smile coming onto her face as she looked at five fully grown men all piled into a single booth.

"Gina."

She scoffed at the nickname as she grabbed a chair from a nearby table and placed it down on the edge of theirs before taking a seat. "No one has called me that in years," she quipped. "So, whose who right now, you all look so different?" she asked, her eyes falling the guy sat in the corner who was being pensively quiet as he stared down at his coffee cup. "Robin," he looked up at that meeting her eyes.

"Yeah."

"You don't look all that different."

"You do."

"Is that good or…"

"Yeah, yes, definitely."

She hummed at that, she'd seen his picture before, he was a writer now. She'd even wrote a column about one of his books once, it had been scary, but she hadn't put it down, it was really good. The rest of the group reminded her of their names and she nodded, counting them in her head, "wasn't there…"

"Killian hasn't shown," John quipped.

"Why did you call us all back here anyway John?" August asked, leaning back against the booth as all of their eyes fell to him.

He sighed, taking a deep breath before beginning, "something happens when you leave town, the further away you go, the hazier it gets. For me, I never left. I remember, I remember everything," he stated with a shudder.

Regina's eyes winded as she felt memories begging to seep back in, the fear creeping through her bones. An image of pale skin, a red nose and bleeding yellow eyes filling her mind. "Pennywise," she whispered.

"God, the fucking clown," Robin groaned, rubbing a hand over his face as everyone else reacted in a similar manner, the panic beginning to rise in all of them. "John, you said you needed our help, when you called us back. What were you talking about?"

"There's something in this town, like an echo. Every 27 years it bounces back. We thought we killed it back then, stopped it for good but we didn't. We didn't kill it."

"You can't be serious," Regina breathed, shuddering as she looked to Robin again, nervousness thrumming through her veins at the prospect of going through that torture. Hadn't life thrown enough shit her way without adding a psycho clown for a second time. "This isn't happening."

"How do you know? How can you be sure?" Will questioned, asking what they all wanted the answer to.

Regina closed her eyes, all of it coming to her at once, "the murders, the deaths here in Stoyrbooke the past couple of weeks, were they… do you think they were Pennywise?"

"I don't think it, I know it. I wouldn't have called you all back here if I wasn't certain that the monster had risen again."

"No, no, no. I have a family back home, I can't do this, I can't do it," Jefferson shook his head. "Why should we have to fight that thing again! We already had our turn once, we went up against it back then, we shouldn't have to do it again this time."

"We're the only ones who can see him, us and his victims," John sighed, rummaging in his bag for something before producing a notebook packed with research. "Whilst you were all away, I've had years to research and I discovered that Pennywise resurfaces every 27, he awakens for the summer and feeds on children before going back into hibernation."

"What are we supposed to do about it?" Will questioned.

Regina noticed that Robin had gone quiet as the rest of them discussed what they were going to do, arguing over how they were meant to deal with it. She kept her eyes on him for a moment until he broke the argument up, his voice raising above them, "we have to kill it." They all went silent, turning to look at him as though he were crazy. "We have to kill that motherfucking clown once and for all. If we don't it'll just keep coming back."

She swallowed nervously, knowing that he was right, as much as she hated to admit it, he was right. "He's right, we have to kill the clown."

"I'm out, count me out," Jefferson grumbled, shaking his head as he stood from the booth, "I'm going home to my family okay."

"Fine, we never needed you anyway, you were always the loose cannon," Will teased.

"Hey!"

"You were to be fair," August nodded.

"Stop it! We all need to stick together if we stand a chance of beating this asshole," Regina hissed, "that's how we pushed him into hibernation when we were kids and its how we're going to manage to kill him this time." She found it insane that her memories of what had happened that summer had just disappeared, she hadn't thought about it in such a long time, but now some of them were back and she remembered them as though they were yesterday. "I know you're scared Jefferson, so am I…"

"You were never scared when we were younger, you were always the one to pull us through it."

Regina sighed, looking down at her hands as they rested in her lap, the truth was she had been scared, she'd been terrified, but she had to be strong for them, because if she wasn't, she would have simply fallen apart. If she had let the fear take over Pennywise would have won the battle. At that thought she looked up again, her eyes going around the table, "fear."

"What?"

"It's fear."

"What about fear?" Robin asked, eyeing her curiously.

"Pennywise feeds off it, it wants us to be scared, relies upon it."

"Well, yeah, he's a scary bastard clown," Will grumbled.

Jefferson had sat back down and was still looking terrified, at least he'd bothered to show up. Killian, on the other hand, had bailed at the first hurdle, not even putting in the effort to visit his old friends.

"Right now, I just need a greasy burger and some sweet potato fries," Regina mumbled.

They ordered food and ate whilst catching up, the thought of Pennywise still lingering in the air despite their reluctance to bring it back up. Regina was listening as they the boys talked about their work, Will constantly teasing everyone around the table, she kept quiet prodding at the apple tart in front of her. All of a sudden, her vision blacked out and she was plunged into darkness, panic gripped her but she didn't make a noise, her body beginning to shake as she tried to push down the fear.

Then three bright lights broke up the darkness and she remembered them immediately, the clown's deadlights. She had seen them when she was younger and couldn't stop herself from looking at them, not when they were the only thing she could see. The lights became brighter and brighter before dissipating and leaving her with nothing but blackness surrounding her. It remained that way for a couple of minutes before a picture came into view, it wasn't of the diner though, it was a dark bathroom.

Her chest tightened as she saw a man come through the door before stepping into the bath, she looked at him closely, trying to work out who he was. The realisation hit her that it was Killian, he looked more mature than he had been, but of course he did, it had been 27 years. She caught sight of a shiny blade in his hand and her breath stuttered, watching as he all of a sudden pulled the knife over his wrists, rubbing his blood-stained fingers over the tiles, spelling out one word. IT.

She couldn't keep it in any more, she was trapped, staring at the view of his dying body in the bathtub, unable to move or do anything, not even able to look away. She screamed, trying to close her eyes, do anything to stop what she was looking at. The water was turning red with blood and she had a flashback to when she was younger, blood had sprayed from the sink and covered her bathroom as Pennywise had tried to get to her.

"Regina! Regina hey!" The bathroom slipped away and she saw blue eyes peering at her, his hands were resting on her upper arms, "Regina, what was that?" he asked.

She shook her head, looking around the diner to see that absolutely everyone inside was staring at her, she must have screamed out loud. She panted, glancing up at Robin before snatching up her bag and darting out of her chair and straight out of the door. Grateful for the fresh air she tried to catch her breath, leaning against the wall of the diner. She was there for a moment before she heard the door to the diner close, someone had clearly come out to find her.

"Are you okay?"

She turned to see Robin coming down the steps, holding out a drink to her, she took it gratefully. "Not really, no," she whispered. "I saw Killian."

"What do you mean?"

"He's dead, he's dead Robin!" she cried, "he killed himself and I… I saw it."

"You saw it?"

"Yes, I saw it."

"Okay, right," he went quiet for a moment, silence washing over them as he was deep in thought. "Do you think…"

"Yes, it has to be. He didn't come for it, so it came for him."

"You said he did it himself."

"Hmm, but I imagine Pennywise can push even the strongest person to do something like that. Like I said he feeds from fear, revels in it."

"Shit."

The rest of the group left the restaurant, forming a circle as John put his hand in the centre, "we said, when we were just kids, that we if it ever came back, we would defeat it. How could we have been braver then, as children, than we are now?"

Regina closed her eyes and shook her head, he had a valid point, but it didn't make her any less scared. Reluctantly she held out her hand, placing it on top of his. Robin was quick to follow suit, then Will and August leaving only Jefferson stood there awkwardly. "Come on Jeff, we need to stick together," Robin quipped. The other man stayed still for a moment before adding his hand to the pile.

"If I die, my ghost will come back to haunt you."

"Ghosts aren't real you pillock," Will chuckled.

Regina scoffed and shook her head, "psychotic mutant clowns aren't meant to be real either but yet, here we are."

"Let's kill the fucker."

* * *

Regina hadn't wanted to be left alone, but with them all checked into the B&B that was how she found herself. In her own room separated from the boys, men, they were men now, no longer awkward boys who liked adventures and space. They'd matured into grownups and she barely recognised them. Robin had always been quiet, she would have called him her best friend back in the day, it hadn't really been anything more than that before, they'd been too young, but there was certainly an attraction there now. There was something, a connection that had always been there, he made her feel safer somehow.

She peered out of the window, looking out onto the dark streets of Storybrooke, it was such a quaint peaceful town, but it held such a terrible evil within. It was after a few moments that she saw it, just catching it in the corner of her sight as it drifted aimlessly through the sky, floating in a way that was strange, in a way that showed it wasn't carried by the wind. A single red balloon. Pennywise' s balloon. It seemed to be getting closer, moving towards her through the night sky but she wasn't going to wait for it to come any closer. Grabbing her bag from the bed she left the room and wandered out onto the landing before hurrying into the room next door, not bothering to knock.

"Regina?"

"Hi," she breathed, looking up at him and realising that he was only wearing a towel around his waist, a clear sign he had just been in the shower. "Sorry." 

"You okay?"

"No, I don't think anyone could be okay knowing that they are going to have to go up against a killer clown which fucks with your mind," she sighed, moving over to the bed and sitting down on the edge of it, noticing that the curtains were drawn over the window. "Do you mind if I stay in here? I… I don't feel safe on my own."

"Sure, yeah that's…" **Tap**.

Her eyes shot up, meeting Robin's as they both turned to look in the direction of the window. **Tap**. "You heard, that right?" she whispered as quietly as she could muster. **Tap. Tap. Tap.**

"Definitely."

"Don't open the curtains." She was finding it hard to breathe as she stood from the bed and moved closer to him, her hand reaching out to grab his, "that's what it wants. It wants us to pay attention to it, if we ignore it he might…" her words were cut off by the window smashing. She squealed and Robin wrapped his arms around her, holding her close as they reluctantly looked to the now shattered window. "Fuck, fuck, fuck," she murmured under her breath, she could feel herself shaking, she was trying not to be scared but she couldn't help it.

The curtains parted and pushing its way through was a balloon. A red balloon.

"Sss… sh…shit"

"Do you see it?" she whispered.

"Uh…huh," he nodded, his grip on her tightening as they slowly backed up towards the door, the balloon following them.

She took a gulp of air before closing her eyes and pulling herself out of his hold, nervously she moved towards the balloon with her hand outstretched.

"Www-w-what are you dd-do-doing Rr-Regina?"

"I'm not afraid," she scoffed, snatching the balloon out of the air and popping it with the heel of her shoe. "We will end you Pennywise!" Regina hissed, moving to the broken window, "you're finished!" She stood there for a moment, peering out into the darkness, there were no more balloons, not that she could see anyway, it was just messing their their heads. She turned her head to look back at Robin, "it's just screwing with us, trying to scare us."

Suddenly the clown emerged from nowhere, shooting up from below the window pane and grabbing hold of her, a malicious smirk appearing on its face. He was trying to pull her out, his large hands gripping her flesh, nails slicing into her upper arms as she fought against him to not be dragged straight out of the open second-floor window.

"Regina!" Robin yelled, hurrying towards her.

"You'll all float this time, I promise you that," It grinned, the smile getting wider and wider, it's skin splitting, flesh tearing as it took over his entire face. "You've seen my lights little Gina and you'll float," he cackled, "you'll float my little Gina."

"L-let go of h-her!" Robin growled, whacking the clown over the head with a chair, stunning it for enough time that Regina could pry herself away, backing up towards him, her arms dripping with blood from the ten puncture marks where his fingernails had broken her skin.

"You'll be scared of me too little Gina. You will be afraid; I will make you afraid! You'll all be afraid of dear old Pennywise and you'll all float!" He let out his same haunting laugh as he shrunk backwards and straight out of the window he'd come through, disappearing into the night.

"H-holy cra-cr-crap," Robin breathed, dropping down onto the bed and lying on his back. "H-he's d-definitely b-bb-back."

"We knew he was," she sighed, perching beside him and looking at the window. Looking at Robin worriedly, she'd almost forgotten about his stutter, it had been really bad when they were kids and up until that moment, until he'd seen the balloon he'd been fine, then all of a sudden he wasn't, it was as though they were children again and he could no longer speak, she didn't want to call it out, he was probably already aware of it, she just hoped he would be able to overcome it again. "Now we just need to get rid of him for good this time, make sure he can never be back again."

There was a knock at the door, making them both jump, thinking that maybe Pennywise had come for the second visit in a night. "Robin! Open up."

Releasing the breath, she had been holding, she stood from the bed, offing him a glance went to let the rest of the guys in. "Maybe you should put some clothes on," she murmured, his towel had slipped a little, revealing more than had been on show before, she couldn't help but run her tongue over her bottom lip as she watched him grab some clothes and disappear into the bathroom. Once he'd gone, she made her way to the door, opening it to reveal all four of the other guys stood on the other side.

They looked at her a little stunned for a moment before snapping out of it and coming into the room. "We heard some stuff going on and thought maybe… why's the window broken?" August asked, staring at the shattered glass.

"It was here wasn't it?" Will groaned.

"Yeah, it was."

"To think I was still hoping that maybe it was a fragment of our imaginations," Jefferson sighed.

* * *

After a couple of days being back in Storybrooke they'd had several run-ins with the killer clown, seeing him as a group and some of them individually. Little John had shared his research with them, telling them that he thought he might have an idea on how to kill Pennywise, it had something to do with an old ritual, something that dated back to the 1700s when it seemed It had first surfaced. It required them all to find their object, something that signified the time they had fought the clown previously, but first, they had to work out exactly what that was. John said that it was vital that they had all of their memories returned before they went up against him again.

There had been a lot more bickering since the first night, the boys taking it upon themselves to fight about things whilst Regina remained pensive and quiet, only getting involved when she had to break them up. Robin seemed to be on the same wavelength as she was, he didn't used to be, but back then he was grieving the loss of her brother, she worried that maybe being back in this place all the thoughts of the little boy had resurfaced.

"How are you dealing with being back here?" she asked him as they got ready one morning. They were still staying in the same room, though they had moved to Regina's due to the broken window, which Robin had to pay for, it was lucky they weren't thrown out of the B&B over it.

"I-I'm t-trying to just b-block it ow-out."

"Yeah, but it must be easier to do that out of town, here there's so many memories and they seem to come back so easily when we're surrounded by it. I guess you've been thinking about him."

"If-f you meh-mean G-Georgie, yeah. H-how could I not th-think of h-h-him?"

Regina sighed, her hand slipping into his and giving it a soft squeeze, "I'm sorry."

"It w-was twenty-seven y-years ago."

"He was your little brother," she whispered, leaning her head against his shoulder, "you can't just forget something like that. He was your family."

"Wh-what about you? Your mo-mother, being b-back here must make you th-think of her," he sighed, clearly changing the subject. It made her bristle to hear her mother being mentioned after what happened to her. The woman's death back then had been ruled as a drunken accident, but it hadn't been, Regina hadn't ever told anyone the truth of what really happened, about how her mother had tried to kill her and she fought back, hitting her around the head and knocking her to the ground only for her to never get up again.

Pennywise had come for her then, her mother had been bleeding out on the bathroom floor and the clown seized his chance to drag her down to its lair. That had been when she saw the deadlights, he'd showed her them, made her float and it had been the scariest moment of her life. "I don't want to think about her, that woman doesn't deserve my thoughts."

"She h-hurt you, didn't s-she? Your mo-mother?"

"Yes," Regina whispered, "which is my I block her out. I won't think of her or even give her the time of day."

"Her d-death, was it an ac- ac-accident?"

"Partly," she shrugged, "I was just a kid, I wanted her to stop. I didn't want her to hurt me anymore, so I stopped her in the only way I could think of."

His shoulders deflated as he pulled her into his arms, "t-this is all go-going to s-sort itself out, it h-has to," he murmured, nuzzling against her shoulder. "You-you're not to b-blame for your mo-mother's actions, she w-was the one h-hurting you. You d-didn't deserve to be t-t-tre-treated that w-way."

"As soon as this is done, I need a fresh start."

He pulled away slowly finding her hands again, "you'll g-get it, I'm sh-sure you will. If you ne-need any h-help I…"

"You're too kind," she smiled before glancing at the door as she remembered what they actually needed to do that day. They had all been putting it off, to get their objects they would have to be brave and go it alone, they weren't naive enough to think that Pennywise was just going to allow them to take what they needed, he was going to try and stop them at all costs. "We're going to have to go find our objects."

"I d-don't have the f-f-first idea where to s-start with that. I c-can't think w-what my item mi-m-might be," Robin groaned, running his fingers through his hair, Regina wondered if it was in frustration about his object, or if it was because he hated his stutter. "How a-about you, do you k-know where your it-item might be?"

"Yes. I just hope it hasn't been found or moved," she quipped. As soon as John mentioned to them that they would be needing to find an item of significance she knew what hers was, it was obvious that some of the others were struggling with what they needed, but not her she knew. She also knew where she had to go to get it, that was the scary part, she had no idea how she would even get into the building.

* * *

Regina looked up at her childhood home, she felt nervous being back there, the bad memories rushing back as though they were yesterday. The fear of the pain she had suffered at her mother's hands creeping up on her, she knew she had to do this, but it didn't make it any easier, it was still just as difficult as it had been going home every night when she had been younger, anticipating her mother's anger.

Taking a deep breath, she tucked a strand of her dark hair behind her ear and moved inside, walking up the stairs until she came to the door of her old apartment, everything inside her was screaming at her to turn back, to run away and leave whilst she could. Her eyes feel to the nameplate on the door and she felt as though her heart stopped beating for a moment.

MILLS.

The nameplate read MILLS. Their family name still on the door and she couldn't breathe, she took a step backwards, she didn't know if she could do it. She was dead, she was sure her mother had died, she had been almost certain of it, then again she never did go back to the house after Pennywise had dragged her down to the swearers, hadn't known for sure, she hadn't seen anything more than her mother's lifeless body on the ground, blood seeping from the wound on the back of her head.

Before she could even think to stop herself, she reached out and pressed the bell, that same noise, same ringing it had always let out whenever there had been a guest, which wasn't often, but it was still memorable, yet another thing that hadn't changed. No one answered at the first ring and she told herself that she would ring once more and then leave. What if her mother was still alive? After all this time just assuming that she had died, maybe she was still alive and what would she do to her daughter if she were to answer the door and see her standing there. Would she even recognise her?

She pressed it again, hearing the noise echo throughout the apartment, vibrating off the walls as it alerted the person inside to the presence of a visitor. No one was in, maybe they were out, or maybe the apartment had simply been vacant the entire time, could 27 years have passed with no new residents? Just simply reminders of what horrors had occurred inside.

Once more her finger pushed against the metal of the doorbell and she yelled at herself internally for doing it. She had said she'd leave, but she hadn't. If someone were in, they would surely have answered by now, they'd have… There was movement inside, she could hear shuffling on the ground, reminiscent of slippers against carpet. Someone was going to answer the door and she felt her throat tighten at the prospect. She could run, get out of there before they even answered, she came very close to escaping when the door opened.

A woman was stood there, a woman that clearly wasn't her mother and she released the breath that had been trapped as relief flooded through her. It was an elderly lady in her late seventies or eighties with long white hair, wearing a dress and the same slippers she knew she had heard before she answered the door. "Are you alright dear?" she asked kindly, her smile a little bright as she held the door.

"Oh, yes, I'm sorry, I must have rung the wrong bell, I was supposed to ring Mills."

"Mills?"

"Yes, you see…"

"There's no Mills here."

"Oh but…"

"Unless… do you mean Cora Mills?"

"Yes," she nodded, stiffening at her mother's name on the tongue of the stranger, "yes, Cora Mills was my mother."

"Oh, oh dear. Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news dear, but Cora Mills passed away what must be ten or so years ago."

"Ten?" she asked, the word sour in her mouth, as she looked at the woman in shock, she had known her mother was dead, but it should have been twenty-seven not ten, there was a big difference between the two. If it were ten years, that meant that she had died sometime after Regina left Storybrooke, she hadn't killed her, she hadn't been dead when Regina left her bleeding out in the bathroom. All this time she had been blaming herself for her mother's death and it seemed she wasn't responsible at all. Her mother had been alive and she hadn't known.

"On the bell… it says…" her eyes flicked the nameplate below the bell and she furrowed her eyebrows, it didn't read MILLS at all. HILLS, not MILLS. So similar, but then again not. Her mother was dead, she couldn't hurt her, she hadn't died when she had thought, but she wouldn't be hurting her again. "I'm sorry, you're Mrs Hills?" she felt a little stupid making such a mistake, it also made her look like an awful daughter not knowing her mother had passed away.

"Yes, Mrs Hills. You didn't know, about your mother?"

"No… I… no," she shook her head.

"Oh dear I'm sorry. Won't you come in for a drink?"

"No I should go… I should," she felt dizzy at the news and didn't really know how to react. She had known her mother was dead, but just… it was all so strange.

"Please, it's the least I can do for having told you such unpleasant news."

"Thank you," Regina nodded, following the woman inside the house, unease sneaking up on her as she entered. Her eyes went to the décor, seeing how different it was now to how it had been. The awful green paint had been replaced by floral wallpaper and it made her feel safer somehow, even if being back here was still strange.

"You grew up in this house then?"

"Yes," she smiled softly, her eyes taking in a particularly strange abstract painting on the wall in the hallway.

"You could look around whilst I go and organise the tea if you would like."

"Oh, I wouldn't want to impose."

"Don't be so polite," she smiled, her white teeth showing as she grinned awkwardly before leaving her stood there and moving into the kitchen.

Regina took a deep breath and decided that she was going to take the woman up on her offer, she wanted to see what she had done with the place. Her mother's bedroom was the first room she came across, she peered through the door, the room was nice but it wasn't the one she was here to look at. The bathroom caught her eye at the end of the hall and she froze, staring at it for a moment. She knew she needed to take this opportunity to retrieve what she had actually come for and it wasn't in there, it wasn't in the room where so much of what had happened that past summer had taken place.

She moved into the room that had been hers when she lived there, it had been transformed into a sewing room and she made her way towards the skirting board in the very corner, fingers crossed it would still be there. She tried to pry the wooden board from the wall so she could get into it but it had been sealed up, fixed into place, frantically she looked around, finding a pair of metal scissors, she jammed them into the board and pushed on them separating the hardboard from the wall.

Cockroaches escaped, making her jump back a little, but she moved past it, putting her hand into the dark hole, her fingers brushing over the item she had been looking for. She pulled it out and crammed it into her jacket pocket, reminiscing about the words written upon it.

_Your hair is like Raven's feathers,_

_Flying free,_

_Making my heart soar._

Once she had the postcard safe, she put the board back where it had been and left the room, staring into the bathroom once again, having a flash in her mind of blood-covered walls, the red liquid dripping from the ceiling, covering her face, going everywhere. Her mother hadn't even seen it, she'd been oblivious to the fact their bathroom was seeped with crimson. She had been so angry at her, Regina hadn't been able to stop herself from screaming, crying out for her mother in fear, only to be punished severely for her outburst. She'd struggled to hide those bruises from her friends.

She didn't need to go in there again, didn't want to. She could still hear the voices that had come from the sink that day, _"join us, Regina. Come float with us. Come float with your friends Regina, we all float down here, you'll float too. Tell Robin that Georgie says hello, tell him that Georgie misses him, tell him that Georgie will see him soon…"_ She swallowed nervously as she recounted it, that had come before the blood.

Voices coming from the plughole, she had been stupid then, stupid enough to look down the dark channel. The blood had bubbled up then, something grabbing hold of her before it sprayed, coming up out of the drain and spurting everywhere. She'd told her mother it was a spider, that a spider had caused her to scream, but all she had seen was blood as she sat there on the ground in the corner of the covered bathroom. Her mother hadn't seen.

Regina realised that she had just been standing there when she heard Mrs Hills voice calling out to her, "the tea is ready dear."

"Thank you," she smiled, following the old woman into the sitting room, she was sure that her dress was a little more tattered than it had been before but tried not to think about it as she took a seat opposite Mrs Hills with a coffee table stuck between them.

She picked up the teacup and looked at the beverage within, it didn't look all that appealing, but it smelt good, Regina took a small sip so that she didn't seem rude or unappreciative. It tasted fine, not as nice as the smell, but it was fine. She wouldn't be having any more of it.

"I apologise for the heat, it gets so hot in here during the summer months," the woman stated, her smile now different, Regina realised it was the teeth, her white teeth had turned stained and dirty, scary. She had an awful feeling run through her.

It did say Mills on the door, it really did, her subconscious whispered

"You feel like you could just about die, but you know what they say about Storybrooke, no one who dies here ever really dies." Regina stared at the old woman as she simply stared back, looking extremely unwell, like maybe she needed to go see a doctor or something, it really wasn't all that warm in the apartment, if anything she would have said it was a little chilly. It seemed as though the lady was in a trace, simply just staring and Regina cleared her throat, feeling uncomfortable as she shuffled in her seat. That seemed to break the moment and the woman sat back with a cup of tea in her hands.

"So, what is it like being back here?"

"Strange," Regina murmured, strange was an understatement, it was awful really, she figured she would rather be anywhere in the world than in this place, with maybe the exception of her own home back in New York, something she realised was a sad feat, the rest of the gang would be dying to go home, but she would probably rather be here in Storybrooke facing a killer clown than back home trapped in her apartment with that man.

"Strange? Strange how?" the lady asked, fanning herself with the collar of her dress, revealing three odd marks on her chest. Regina knew it was rude to stare but she couldn't help herself, they looked like wounds, scars even, it was odd and had stolen her ability to think of an answer to the question. However, it seemed she wouldn't have to as the oven pinged from in the kitchen and the woman filled the silent gap again. "Sorry dear, I put some cookies in the oven before you arrived, I'll go and get them out," she smiled before standing up.

"I really shouldn't impose; I'll be out of your…"

"No, no, no I insist," she hummed, hobbling off down the corridor into the kitchen, leaving Regina alone in the sitting room with an old scratched record playing in the background. This room, unlike the others was similar to how she remembered it, the same muted colours and old-fashioned furniture, though the old lady had added her own things alongside them.

"Are these your family?" she Regina called out as she stood from her chair and looked at the black and white photos on the wall. She could hear the old woman doing something in the kitchen, pans clinking as she took her baked goods out from the oven. Her eyes scanned the pictures of different people before settling on one particular image, the feeling it gave her was like a stone dropping to the bottom of her stomach. She recognised that face, it was hard to forget.

She had known that something wasn't right, there was something strange going on. She should have known better, she really should. When she turned around the woman was stood in the doorway, no longer a woman at all, she was the embodiment of an old crone, her features distorted as she held onto a plate of cookies freshly baked and topped with what looked like blood and teeth, little milk teeth.

A sickly-sweet smell met her nose, a smell that was corrupted with a scent that was all too familiar to her from when she had been a child. It was the smell of the sewers, a smell she associated with Pennywise. Pennywise was cotton candy sweet with a layer of decay. The woman kept advancing, coming closer, her head moved unnaturally, distorting and cracking as it swivelled on her shoulders.

She wanted to scream but kept it at bay, she needed to get out, her head was screaming at her to get out. Leave Regina! Get out, get out of this house, get out of Storybrooke! Leave, leave now while you still can! Get out. Get out! GET OUT!

"Would you like a cookie dear?" the woman asked, her voice having dropped a couple of octaves, it wasn't the same voice, she wasn't the woman any more, she had never really been the woman. It had always been Pennywise, it had been there since the beginning and at the start she had been drawn in by it, unaware of him, unaware of it. "Take a cookie."

"No, I really should be leaving."

"Take a cookie Regina!"

"I didn't tell you my name."

"Take a god damn cookie you bitch!" it spat and that was when she made a run for it, banging her leg on the coffee table, knocking the teacups over. Her eyes dropped to the cups and she nearly lost the contents of her stomach at the mixture of pain and disgust. The liquid in the cups was filthy sewer water, literally shit and she'd drunk it, she felt as though she was about to vomit. She made it past the woman, pushing her way through the door until she heard a voice that had her stopping still, frozen to the spot and unable to move.

"Regina Maria Mills."

She turned her eyes falling upon what had once been the old crone, but now it was her mother. The woman was holding a belt and there was blood seeping from her head, dripping down her face and staining her clothes. "Momma?" Regina breathed, her voice heightening as she was suddenly back in that place, back to being an eleven-year-old girl who was scared stiff of her own mother.

"Have you been naughty again Regina? Have you been a bad, bad girl! Playing with those dirty boys again, why can't you find girls to play with? Why are you always spending time with those boys? Boys only ever have one thing on their mind when it comes to girls. They only want one thing from you Regina."

"They're my friends momma, they don't think of me that way," she whispered. She didn't know why she was even bothering taking, she knew it wasn't her mother, but the young child inside her wouldn't let her move, she was stuck unable to run away even though she wanted to more than anything.

"You're disgusting Regina! A little slut! My own daughter a dirty whore! Sleeping with boys! Doing dirty things down in the sewers with dirty boys."

"No!"

"And what about this?!" she asked, her head twisting as she gestured to her skull, her teeth blackening as she spoke, "you did this to me Regina! You. You killed me! You killed your own mother! You hit me and left me for dead. You murdered me. Murderer!"

"Stop!"

"You're a murderer Regina, you killed me! You killed me and It is going to kill you, it'll make you float, just like it'll make all your friends float! You'll all be taken, taken away!" she cackled. Lurching towards Regina, her fingers wrapping tightly around her neck gripping her so hard that it cut off her breath. Her eyes were burning red hot as she, it, stared down at her. "You killed me!" her skin started to decay, disintegrating, melting away and Regina couldn't stop the scream that pushed its way from her throat as her mother's form eroded in front of her.

"Let go!" she spluttered, "let go of me!" she squealed, trying to escape the bones that were clinging to her. She fought with everything she had, kicking what had once held the form of her mother clean in the stomach with her heeled foot. It let out a sharp hiss as it dropped her, then the skeleton was gone, giving way to the form of the clown. Pennywise was stood in front of her and he was angry, angry that she'd hurt him, that she was fighting against him.

"Aww little Gina trying to hurt poor old Pennywise. It makes Pennywise sad when friends try to hurt it," he moaned, an accentuated frown appearing on his face. "Do you want Pennywise to be sad Gina? Do you?! DO YOU?! Clowns are supposed to be happy, happy, happy, Happy, HAPPY!" the clown screamed. Regina didn't take another minute to look at him, she hurried from the apartment, fleeing from him, knowing that he was quick on her heels, chasing after her. "Don't run from me Gina! I'll catch you and you'll float like all the others. Come back!"

Once she was outside her heel caught on the pavement and she felt herself falling, collapsing to the ground, saving herself with her outstretched hands and wincing at the sting. She scrambled to turn around, sitting on her ass as she looked to the door, seeing the clown stood there. What had before been a normal building was now a decaying house with boarded-up windows, the tiles had dropped from the roof and the building looked extremely unstable. She had been inside; she'd gone in and the illusion had been so good that she hadn't realised that the house had been crumbling around her.

Regina pushed herself to her feet, watching the clown from where she was stood on the sidewalk, he waved at her and she thought he was going to come closer but he didn't. He stayed put, just waving at her. "If I can't have you now, I'll find someone else for the time being, find someone else to be my friend. You will come to me though little Gina and you will float. You'll be so much happier that way. Happier than you are with Daniel, than you were with your mother. I can smell your fear right now, it's delicious," he hummed, sniffing at the air. "I'm going to kill you it, kill you with fear. You said you weren't scared; I can make you scared. I can make you so scared that you die of fright!"

She didn't want to listen to anymore and turned on her heel, walking at first before picking up the pace to a jog and then almost a complete sprint, getting away as quickly as possible. She wasn't just running away from the clown; she was running from that house and all the awful memories she associated with it.

* * *

**Here is a manip I created of Pennywise visiting Robin and Regina in Robin's hotel room through the smashed window.**

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**This will be continued if you want it to be. Probably one more chapter, maybe two.**


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